MIDEAST STOCKS-Gulf bourses slip as banks drag on Yemen, Iran war worries

Oct 29 (Reuters) - Major Gulf equities declined in early trade on Thursday, with banking stocks leading losses as fighting escalated in Yemen and uncertainty over efforts to end the Middle East conflict weighed on sentiment.

Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis attacked Aden airport on Wednesday, Yemeni government forces said. The group had earlier warned people to evacuate the facility as fighting escalated in the impoverished country.

A Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis said it destroyed a ballistic missile fired by the group toward the kingdom's eastern region early on Thursday, as hostilities between both sides showed no signs of abating.

Saudi Arabia's benchmark index .TASI eased 0.2%, hit by a 0.9% fall in the country's biggest lender Saudi National Bank 1180.SE.

Dubai's main share index .DFMGI declined 0.5%, weighed down by a 1.2% slide in top lender Emirates NBD ENBD.DU.

In Abu Dhabi, the index .FTFADGI lost 0.6%, with the United Arab Emirates' biggest lender First Abu Dhabi Bank FAB.AD retreating 2.3% despite reporting a 6% 6% rise in third-quarter net profit, driven by strong growth in net interest income.

The Qatari index .QSI eased 0.1%.

Investors were also watching diplomacy aimed at ending the eight-month-old conflict. Qatari mediators have presented Iran with a new draft deal to end the war with the US and Israel, an official briefed on the negotiations said.

A senior Iranian official, however, said Doha had put forward only unacceptable ideas that did not amount to an offer.